Grande Prairie calls on province to review RCMP funding
'There are some arbitrary lines drawn around who does pay for policing and who doesn't'
The mayor of Grande Prairie is calling on the province to change how RCMP are funded in rural and urban centres throughout Alberta.
The current model puts an unfair amount of pressure on municipalities that pay for their own police services, Mayor Bill Given said.
"This is really an advocacy position for urban municipalities and for Albertans who are concerned about safety," Given told CBC News.
"I certainly hope the provincial government will take a look at the system and will find a more equitable way to ensure the safety of Albertans."
Grande Prairie budgeted nearly $20 million in 2018 for its 107-member RCMP detachment. The funding represents roughly 12 per cent of the city's $165-million annual operating budget.
By comparison, the surrounding County of Grande Prairie employs six enhanced RCMP officers who work closely with peace officers, bylaw officers and animal control officers, and on crime-prevention initiatives. But the county relies on the Grande Prairie and Beaverlodge detachments for its regular policing services.
"There are some arbitrary lines drawn around who does pay for policing and who doesn't," Given said.
As a result, property taxes in Grande Prairie are significantly higher than in the county, Given said. He estimated about 20 per cent of the difference is because the city has to pay for its own RCMP detachment.
"There's a huge imbalance in the amount of property taxes in our region, that are paid on one side of the border over the other."
In Alberta, the provincial government is responsible for providing police services to municipalities with 5,000 or fewer residents.
For municipalities with populations of between 5,000 and 15,000, the federal government covers 30 per cent of the policing costs. Once the population surpasses 15,000, the federal government contribution falls to 10 per cent.
Municipalities can choose to form a regional service with surrounding communities, or create an independent body such as the police services in Edmonton and Calgary.
The third option is to pay the federal, provincial or another municipal government to provide policing. More than 40 communities in Alberta contract their police services through the federal government.
The province subsidizes some of the cost through police officer grants and the Municipal Policing Assistance Grant Program.
Grande Prairie, with a population of more than 63,000 got almost $4 million for RCMP policing from the Alberta government in 2017/18.
That included $300,000 for three new officers and nearly $1.1 million through the grant program. The province also returned most of the revenue from Traffic Safety Act fines in the city.
In towns and villages with fewer than 5,000 people, the Alberta government contracts the RCMP. The same model applies for all counties, municipal districts and Métis settlements, regardless of size.
The cost of policing these communities is shared by the provincial and federal governments, under the Provincial Police Service Agreement. The province pays 70 per cent and the federal government pays the rest.
The agreement, which costs the Alberta government more than $200 million annually, expires in 2032.
Money a means to an end
The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) is advocating for changes to the system. Given sits on the AUMA board of directors.
The group wants all communities in Alberta to follow the same funding model for police, he said. The system proposed by AUMA is based on the tax revenue a community can generate, rather than its population.
The proposed change could lead to more officers in rural communities struggling with crime, he added.
"The money is the means to the end, which is addressing crime," Given said. "If there's new money into the system, that would mean we could hire more police officers, put more money into crime prevention and really deliver the safety that Albertans are looking for.
"Rural Albertans and rural municipalities could be more directly in control of their own destiny if they paid on the same basis as urban municipalities."
For the proposed system to work, the province would have to continue investing the same amount of money into police services across Alberta, in addition to basic funding from each community, Given said.
"This isn't at all about taking money from one jurisdiction and giving to another," he said. "This is an area for new resources to come in, it's not an opportunity for anyone to shirk their responsibility.
"We absolutely wouldn't want to see that money disappear into a provincial pot somewhere, with no impact or benefit to residents."
No review scheduled, province says
In a written statement, the office of Alberta Justice and Solicitor General said there is no review scheduled for the Police Act.
"We've heard from urban municipalities on this issue and we'll continue to monitor challenges faced by municipalities and police," the statement said. "Any changes to the police costing model will come only after consultation and careful consideration."
The current model takes into consideration that rural municipalities have a smaller tax base and a larger policing area, the statement continued.
"The funding model for rural municipalities is different because the challenges of providing policing are different."
But Given said times have changed and many rural municipalities gather enough tax revenue through industry to pay for their own police services.
"You can't separate our economy. You can't separate our communities. You can't separate the way crime happens. Ultimately we need to have a system of funding response to crime and safety that doesn't work on those separate boundaries either," Given said.
"Each side of the boundary needs to contribute to the overall resources that we need in our region and that burden can't be carried only by the urban side.
"If they have the revenue and they have the activity, it would be reasonable for them to contribute to policing on the same basis as an urban centre."
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